Athena
by bruised not broken
Summary: The one thing that makes Arthur human. Post- movie. Not knowing, never knowing and a lifelong guilt. Tragedy, and a look into Arthur's life before he went into Extraction with Cobb. Arthur/OC. Complete pls R/R
1. The Helen of Troy

**A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome**

She was beautiful.

With her long black hair that framed her face, almond shaped eyes and her lithe petite Asian frame, she was pretty.

But the way she moved, the way she walked, the way she carried herself, it made the air surrounding her seem holy. It made her beautiful.

The air billowed out from her long white skirt, like rippling water with every step she took. Her dark brown eyes were alight, looking alive, yet mournful and hard.

Her beauty was one that medieval songs and stories were written about, that will be praised for generations to come, the Helen of Troys, the Cleopatras, the Aphrodites of this world. Nowadays, one pooh poohed the notion of a beauty so wondrous that it launched a thousand ships and sent men to war willingly.

'But yes, this was it, proof that Helen of Troys do exist. That the hand of Men, can never build things as beautiful as the hand of God,' thought Ariadne.

Yet there was an indescribable quality about her, an indescribable sadness, power and regret that enveloped her, all as she walked towards them with an unthinkable grace.

She seemed terrible yet beautiful, like an avenging fury whose grace left utter destruction.

It made Ariadne shudder.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the warehouse went glacial as she walked towards the semi-circle of people.

Yusuf looked worried and anxious, eyes widened in a sort of fear that sent a chill down her spine.

Eames stiffened and suddenly looked serious. With a sudden start, Ariadne realized he was holding a gun.

Cobb looked like a hunted animal, a taut coil, his eyes narrowed with a wary look in them, ready to spring at slightest notice. He too held a gun which he gripped so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Ariadne saw Arthur putting his free hand in his jacket pocket, likely fiddling with his totem to assure himself he was not dreaming. He had an impassive face but the fire in his eyes and the tenseness of his posture in which he held his gun betrayed the emotions that he was trying to conceal.

The girl stopped in the middle of the semi-circle of five people.

'She looks really young, like 18 or something,' thought Ariadne


	2. Flashback

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say. Please do review if you would like it to move forward, if you like the way it is going, or if you feel that there are any parts lacking**

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****Flashback**

_Her phone buzzed_

'_Hello?' Ariadne said into the phone_

'_Ariadne it's me, Arthur. I trust you still remember me?' the polished silky voice on the other end said_

'_Uh…sure, of course I do! What's up?' _

_Instantly she regretted the casualness of her tone. Arthur didn't call people randomly to chat. Arthur always had a purpose for everything. And how could she ever forget? That time of her life that changed the course of her life forever. She could never truly believe in the real world anymore._

'_The five of us have to meet at the warehouse again tomorrow, 4 in the afternoon. Please rearrange your schedule if you cannot make it as it is vital you be there.'_

'_Erm…okay…I guess I could go…'_

'_Very well we will see you there then. Don't be late. Goodbye.'_

_And he hung up._

**End Flashback**

So there they were, five of them gathered in the warehouse once more. Much as she was glad to see them, the tension apparent was all too clear. Eames was fidgeting with some lint on his shirt. Cobb sat silently at his desk, spinning his top. Yusuf looked the most normal but his agitation was betrayed by the fact that he flipped the pages of his journal too fast. Arthur just sat on a chair with his elbows on his knees, staring hard at the floor. There seemed to be something so hard in his face, an emotion she could not quite put her finger on, which startled her.

'This is totally unlike Arthur,' Ariadne thought to herself.

She tried to sound Cobb, Arthur, even Eames and Yusuf out but they gave nothing away. She had surmised then that probably only Dom, Arthur, and possibly Eames fully knew what was about to happen.

And from the reactions of all the others when the girl walked in, Ariadne did not like it.

'Well gentlemen, and lady,' as the yet unnamed girl inclined her head towards Ariadne, facing them as they stood in a wary semi-circle.

'I came alone. There is no one else out there'

'How can we trust you? How do we know you are you?' Cobb asked.

Cobb, Arthur and Eames now had their guns trained on the girl.

Ariadne was terrified. Who is she, she who looked so young, so beautiful, and so terrifying? Why were they so wary of her? **_Who is she?_**


	3. Emotion

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say, thank you all for the story alerts and favourites. Please do review if you would like it to move forward, if you like the way it is going, or if you feel that there are any parts lacking.**

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The yet unnamed girl spoke in a soft lilting voice, gentle and calming, like waves lapping upon a beach constantly.

'I remember, Arthur. I remember a time when we were young and innocent. When we played together, laughed together, were taught together. We excelled together, got chosen together, went to places together.'

She took a deep breath and continued.

'Do you remember, Arthur? Do you remember the sounds of Times Square? Do you remember the stink of River Thames? Do you remember when I first found out about the concept of a dream within a dream? How it inflamed us? How it inspired us? How we explored in our own secret way? And now you have pushed beyond those boundaries with Cobb, beyond our imaginations when we first dreamed of it.'

'Tena…' began Arthur

She continued with a tight voice ignoring him.

'Yes I still remember a time when we dreamed. When we dreamed for real, and we dreamed for others. A time when we still had nightmares of our own accord, where dreams were not a planned occurrence, but a spontaneous act that occurred during rest. **A time when we dreamed**. Of real worlds and of dream worlds. _What dreams we had Arthur! What dreams we had!_ Despite all the loneliness and solitude, we had each other and the world's weight distributed upon both our shoulders. We survived as we best could and though we were never really happy, we were never really alone.'

'Tena…I…' said Arthur, choking on his words while he tried to rein his emotions unsuccessfully.

And her voice hardened.

'I too remember a time when you left me to die Arthur.'

'NO!' Arthur's voice trembled as he lowered his gun.

Cobb and Eames seemed to be training their guns somewhere in the background.

'I couldn't…I tried…believe me I really did…forgive me, I…I…' Arthur whispered, as a strong emotion struggled to come up against his previously impassive face.

Ariadne could not believe the sight before her eyes.

Arthur.

Point Man.

The logical locus of the team.

Impassive, impeccable, in control.

And here he was with an indescribable emotion contorting his face. Such overwhelming emotion, overwhelming feeling was not at all the Arthur she knew.

He struggled to remain composed, to remain rational, to remain the Arthur the Team knew, and yet the struggle was too great to bear for his overpowering emotions. Like a dam that was breaking down, the torrent of emotions that flooded his face, the pain that could be seen in his eyes; his despair was clear for all to see. And still he struggled, against the tsunami of emotions washing over him. Those memories had been buried too long, too deep, and were too powerful. He had to remain in control.

There was a deathly silence that seemed to stretch forever. A deafening silence, the kind of silence that roared in your ears and Ariadne could feel the tension pressing down on her chest, like as if there was a heavy weight weighing her chest down, making it difficult for her to breathe.

'I have come with a warning for this Team,' she continued, her voice thick with emotion.

**_'Do not attempt to do Inception on such a grand scale again. Please don't put ideas in their heads anymore. They suspect, they whisper among themselves, but only I know for sure. Don't give misery to those who aren't willing to attempt it.'_**

And she continued on in a softer whisper.

_'After all, an idea is the most persistent parasite of all is it not Cobb?'_

With that she turned around and tried to walk towards the door again.

But she seemed to sway, her face a deadly pale which jolted Ariadne. Time seemed to stop for a moment as she swayed like a blade of tall grass in the wind, frail yet strong, graceful, light and beautiful. Pain was etched on the deadly white face as her eyelids fluttered to a close and she began her fall.

'TENA!' yelled Arthur simultaneously dropping his gun and running forward.

'Arthur, be careful!' shouted Cobb, to which Arthur paid no heed.

Arthur ran forward and caught her delicate shoulders before she hit the ground, her face devoid of any colour save for those red red lips. She looked surreal, like a beautiful mannequin, perfect but colourless. Her black hair and red lips served to emphasise her paleness. Even unconscious, she was still breathtakingly beautiful, and Ariadne could only look on in a mixture of shock and awe.

'It's alright Cobb I don't' think there's anyone out there. If not they would surely have taken a potshot at us already,' said Eames whose voice sounded tight, something that Ariadne had never heard before. It was certainly a day of firsts.

Arthur had already put one arm under her knees and carried her limp form to the couch. His anxiety could not have been plainer. The paleness of his face could only be rivaled by the paleness of hers. His eyes betrayed anxiety, and fear.

**Fear like no other.**

Out of the corner of her eye, Ariadne saw Cobb and Eames putting their guns down. Cobb with a worried look on his face, but nevertheless still appraising his surroundings, Eames cautiously and warily. Yusuf had already started moving towards Arthur and the girl.

'What is happening? Why is this happening? What just happened? Who is she? Why are they acting this way?' a thousand questions raced through Ariadne's head, but she knew the gravity of the current situation better than to ask. She was burning with curiosity, but she still felt the tension. And the look in Arthur's eyes had frightened her beyond imagination.

'How can one know so little, and think that they know someone well?' mused Ariadne, feeling helpless and out of the loop. How long she had spent in close proximity with each of the other team mates on the Fischer job, planning, thinking, arguing, preparing, and planning once more. They had done so much together, and yet it struck Ariadne with a sudden force how little she actually knew about the others. Their past lives, what they were before all these had happened was a complete mystery to her.

As Arthur laid her gently on the couch, Yusuf started taking her pulse, and the rest of them crowded around the couch.


	4. Fury

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say, thank you all for the story alerts and favourites. **

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'It's weak but steady,' said Yusuf

But Arthur was not listening.

'Cobb.' Arthur said in a constricted voice.

Ariadne turned away from Yusuf to see what had caught Arthur's attention, as did the rest. He had hiked up her skirt till knee length. All round both her shins, it was a myriad of brown, yellow, green and purple; numerous bruises at various stages of healing. It sickened her just to look at them, at the motley of colours and sheer number of them. On her left knee, there was a straight vertical line of four bruises. But just next to the line of bruises, there was a_ huge _bruise. It was a sickly grey colour on the outer portion, and pink in the middle, with purple spots within the bruised area.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Ariadne could not help thinking it looked like how she imagined a dinosaur egg to look like. But not on a person. Definitely not on a person. It sickened her even more to look at it.

Looking around, she saw the shocked looks on the team members' faces. But on Arthur she saw an unmistakable anger.

Anger that blazed through his eyes and radiated from his very core outwards. There was a wild fire in his eyes, though his facial expression was one of impassivity.

The cold fury and the hot flames of outrage melded together to form an Arthur that did not seem human. It seemed to consume him utterly and fully, to create someone that was not Arthur. It created someone whose rage and fury knew no bounds, whose hate at that moment seemed to intensify by a million times. He seemed to have absorbed all the anger in the world, and have it burst out of his eyes in an amazing and utterly frightening magnitude. Such intensity of raw emotion, of anger, and hate seemed to dwarf all the times he had not shown any emotions. It made everyone else seem colourless.

Ariadne had thought she knew what it was like to be really frightened. But she now knew she had not. She flinched and backed away.

'Arthur.'

Cobb put his hand on Arthur's shoulder.

'It's not your fault.'

Arthur remained silent, fury still blazing through his eyes as he mutely stared at the bruises.

'It's most probably exhaustion Arthur,' continued Cobb.

'Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if it is. Especially if all the rumours were true,' drawled Eames

'Here honey, take this.' Eames seemed to have suddenly conjured up a wet cloth, handing it to Arthur.

Arthur took it wordlessly, and gently wiped her forehead and face. At the coldness of the water, her eyes fluttered open slowly.

She tried to get up but Arthur pushed her down, his eyes still flashing but with less intensity than before, and a hint of gentleness.

'Athena don't get up. Please. You aren't steady enough for it yet,' he murmured.

She obeyed, lying back down and closing her eyes with a small sigh.

'Another person whose parents had an obsession with Greek gods?' wondered Ariadne to herself.

'Stop thinking about such unrelated stuff you idiot. It's just nerves. **Just nerves. **Someone just fainted, and here you are thinking about dinosaur eggs and Greek gods,' Ariadne chided herself.

After a short while the girl called Athena spoke again, her eyes still closed.

'You know what I'm here for Arthur, and what will happen if I don't get what I'm supposed to.'

Arthur nodded with an impassive face, but eyes still blazing.

'They hurt you Tena_._ _They hurt you. _You can't expect me to let you walk away, back to them and let them hurt you more.'

Her eyes flew open with a questioning look, and she glanced down at her legs, realizing that her skirt had been hiked up to her knees exposing her bruises.

'I don't think you actually thought about that when you left Arthur. You must have had very little qualms when it came to me. You knew the inevitable; you knew the consequences, not to you but to us_. Some of those guys were our friends Arthur_. Do you know how many heads in security rolled just because you ran? I'm lucky to still be alive at all, lucky that I was more indispensable than the rest. _**But it was never the same again Arthur**__._'

Arthur looked away.

'Left? Ran? Security?' all these terms swam in Ariadne's head, screaming to be explained. She looked around at the others hoping for some explanation or inspiration but they gave none. Yusuf suddenly thought his fingernails were very interesting, and Eames was examining the floor. Cobb's eyes were flitting between Arthur and the girl called Athena.

'I made a bargain Arthur,' she said after a pause

Arthur's head snapped back as he turned to look at her with a fearful look in his eyes.

'What bargain?' his voice rang out sharply.

She held his gaze and remained silent.

What bargain Athena? _**What bargain?'**_ said Arthur in rising octaves, shaking her shoulders.

'Arthur…' said Cobb in a warning tone. Arthur composed himself, rearranging his features into his poker face that everyone knew so well and asked again in his calm voice.

'What bargain did you make?'

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	5. Courage

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say, thank you all for the story alerts and favourites.**

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'I'm not going to bring back the information they seek,' she said. 'I will NOT take the responsibility of bringing such a burden onto the rest of them. Let them continue to think it is a rumour. Rumours die eventually. I will not willingly inflict the others with such a pain and baggage that you and Cobb carry. So therefore…' she broke off.

'Therefore?' Arthur asked.

Ariadne felt a gnawing fear growing upon her. She was not sure exactly what the bargain was because it was not put out plainly, but she was sure that she was not going to like the answer.

She took a deep breath and continued in a soft voice, 'Therefore I must die out here'.

Eames' head snapped up. Yusuf seemed frozen, staring at his nails. Cobb's eyes were filled with fear as he slowly fixed his gaze upon her. Ariadne was shocked to the core, feeling like she had just been steamrolled over.

Arthur looked away, anguish contorting his features once more.

'You can't send me back. I cannot go back and lie because I cannot unlearn what I already know. At the same time if I were to die, I rather do it here, than go back and wait for my painful, imminent death.'

There was a ghostly silence.

'I can't go back Arthur. I no longer have the courage to go back,' she whispered.

'We can hide you Athena. After all Arthur did it,' said Cobb

'At what price Cobb? Will you give up your family to hide me?'

The look in Cobb's face said it all.

'It is easy for individuals to hide and run, like Arthur, and even Eames here,' as she inclined her head towards the staring forger.

'But I can no longer run. You saw what they did on my left knee, I have tails everywhere. They were taking no chances after Arthur ran, especially since I was going to come out and confront you lot.'

'Athena we can hide… We can run together…I managed to do it…I can protect you… Haven't I always been the one with the plan? With the way out?' started Arthur.

'Protect me?' her mocking voice rang out.

In a dangerous low tone, she said, 'Protect me Arthur? Perhaps you don't understand. The only reason why they can no longer touch you is because they only found you when you were already protected by other powerful people. You had already pulled off a number of successful feats, and they could no longer touch you without angering some very powerful people. Of course, credit should go to Cobb for that too. _His jobs kept you alive.'_

'Tena give me time, I can come up with something I promise. I can get you away. You will not have to run. I will make plans. I know I can,' said Arthur, his impassive features settling on his face once more, but there was a hard glint in his eyes.

'At what cost Arthur?'

Her voice was sharp and harsh. Arthur flinched and looked away.

'I cannot be as irresponsible as you, you know that,' she said baldly.

There was a long silence.

'Promise me, no more Inception. No more dream team like this. All of you are in danger, and while Saito is powerful, he is not almighty.'

Silence.

Arthur nodded mutely.

The girl sat up.

'Arthur, the memories I shared with you are the only good memories I have ever had in this lifetime, and I thank you for them. I…I really do…' and she broke off as tears threatened to spill out from those eyes that held so much life and sadness.

'Athena,' said Arthur in a constricted voice. He took her into his arms, his face contorted in anguish and guilt as he leaned his cheek against her dark hair. Cobb and Eames looked away, while Yusuf continued staring at his nails. Ariadne knew that she should look away, for this intimate moment was something that she should not be privy to, but somehow she just could not tear her gaze away. The emotions were so poignant and raw that Ariadne had to ball her hands into fists and grit her teeth to stop herself from crying.

'Athena I can really find a way…' began Arthur

'No.'

There was something so final, _so heartbreakingly final_ about that one word, that Ariadne looked away to stop the tears from spilling out.

She smoothed her skirt out and stood up.

'This is where I leave you. Cobb, thank you for keeping Arthur alive.'

Cobb nodded and said, 'Arthur kept himself alive really. He was invaluable.' Cobb sounded curt but Ariadne suspected it was because he was trying to control his emotions.

'Eames it's good to see you again,' she nodded at Eames.

'My pleasure darling,' replied Eames with a cracked voice.

'You two be careful,' as she glanced at both Ariadne and Yusuf. They both nodded dumbly.

'Arthur, live well. You have gotten your second chance. Use it well and fully.'

Without waiting for a reply from Arthur she turned and started walking away.

'Wait!' Arthur caught her arm and she spun around.

'Athena…do you…do you…' he took a deep breath and whispered 'Do you forgive me?'

'Arthur,' she replied in a soft voice. 'You should never let your guilt define a person, as I suspect someone did.' She looked over at Cobb.

'But do you?'

She stared at the floor for a long time. Ariadne could hear her own watch ticking in the pin-drop silence. The silence was deafening, and no one dared to move, or even breathe, as if frozen in that moment of time. Everyone was silently willing her to give an affirmative answer, but no one dared to move a muscle for fear of causing a negative answer.

'Arthur…I can understand why you did what you did, and I do not blame you in the slightest for choosing what you eventually chose to do. It was not a difficult choice, and I don't think anyone can fault you for choosing this over the other. And I am glad for you, because you have managed to shape an identity, **your identity**, based on the person you are, and not by someone else behind you. I…I…'

She took a deep breath before continuing.

'I do forgive you for choosing to run, but…but I don't think I can ever find it in myself, to forgive you for the consequences that followed. But you gave me the best times in my life, and if it is any consolation, I think they do cancel each other out.'

She paused.

'For me at least.'

Ariadne knew the nuance of the use of the possessive was not lost on any of them.

'Goodbye Arthur. How I wish this was a dream, and that death will only bring awakening into another world. But whether in dream worlds or the real world, every decision has very real consequences. You made yours, I made mine. Whatever else left from these decisions is ours to bear. I have not the courage to go back to my life, but you still have yours. _Courage Arthur. Courage to walk away and forget when you need to. _Now is the time for that courage.'

With that she turned and walked away, her long hair floating behind her, and her skirt rippling once more with every step. Her chin held high, with a kind of steely quiet determination that kept her eyes alight with a fire. She looked like a Conqueror going on a conquest, proud, regal, beautiful, and terrible. An avenging angel, who had come down to Earth to fulfill a purpose, leaving death and destruction in her wake. But it did nothing to diminish her beauty. It made your heart ache and your eyes dazzle to see such beauty, but it made your heart break to know that someone was walking out into the unknown, and to her certain death.

_Courage._

_Courage to face a world without dreams._

Her footsteps walking out of their lives grew fainter until they were heard no more.

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	6. And a Death

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say, thank you all for the story alerts and favourites.**

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They had stood still for very long after she left, each one not daring to be the first to move, first to speak. Whether it was by confusion, or fear to find that it was all actually reality, it rooted them all to their spots.

To Ariadne, her memory seemed to stop at the moment the girl left. She only had hazy memories of the aftermath, after that girl left. Ariadne seemed to remember Arthur's shocked and anguished face, Cobb taking charge and asking them all to go back and meet again the next day. She could not think of her as 'Athena'. To Ariadne, she was THE girl. Like an apparition out of nowhere, she had flitted in and out of their lives, but seared an impression so deep on all of them present. She spent only the barest moment in their lives, but it seemed to mark a fundamental shift in everyone. She was the girl. THAT girl. In all probability, she was not even a girl. She seemed to betray an aura of sadness and weariness that aged her in the few moments she had been in the warehouse.

The next day dawned and Ariadne arrived at the warehouse a little earlier than their meeting time to find Arthur and Cobb already in it at their desks. Arthur was staring into blank space, and only Cobb greeted her. Yusuf, she was told by Cobb was not going to come. He already knew what they were going to hear. Or at least he knew what he had to know.

Eames came in a few moments later carrying a page from a newspaper looking somber. It had to be pretty serious. Eames, as far as she knew, never looked somber for real.

'I bought the papers this morning and look what I found,' he said to no one in particular.

Cobb took the paper from him and Ariadne glanced over.

The title of the article read 'Tragic fight with depression. Woman found dead, brother heartbroken'.

As Ariadne scanned the article with Cobb, she felt sicker and sicker as she read on.

The paper described how the woman and her brother had been holidaying in a bid to 'lift her from the depression she was experiencing'. Her brother had broken into her hotel room upon not receiving a response when he knocked, only to find that she had overdosed on some drugs in a 'melancholic stupor'. Her brother went on to say that she had been experiencing depression for some time, continually hurting herself as evidenced by the many self-inflicted bruises on her. Police had pulled her medical reports and had been satisfied with her brother's account of the story. The case had been classified as suicide.

The sense of loss that hit Ariadne surprised her. Here was a girl…no a young woman just around her age, who had didn't even spend a day with her and the anguish she felt, the keen sense of loss and emptiness just did not add up. It was not the feeling of losing a loved one, but not quite the same as dispassionately, detachedly reading about the death of an unknown person in the papers.

She had felt a sense of kinship with that girl. They were about the same age, but their lives had been so remarkably different. Ariadne was in awe of her, and yet, somewhere mixed into that awe, was a sense of pity.

_She had been real._ She had been a real living, breathing person. She was not a nameless, faceless figure in the background of a dream, a projection or a part of the sub-consciousness. She had a name, she had emotions, she had a past.

And suddenly she was gone.

Suddenly the death as reported in the papers was _not just another death_.

'I want to read that,' said Arthur looking up.

Cobb wordlessly and reluctantly handed the paper to him.

Upon finishing it, Arthur flung the paper across the warehouse with a shout of rage, his jaw and hands clenched. He was expressionless, but his eyes were blazing.

Eames blinked.

Arthur's face was hard while he took deep breaths. Cobb looked on with a pained look on his face. Ariadne wanted to help Arthur. Get him coffee, rub his back, anything, any ridiculous thing that might actually work, that could help ease his pain. But she was helpless.

They sat around helplessly watching as Arthur tried to compose himself. His features were already impassive and expressionless, but his eyes and posture betrayed the inner turmoil he felt. He was rubbing his fingers with a vengeance, staring hard at the floor.

Finally, after what seemed to be eternity, Arthur looked like he was finally in control of himself. Some measure of calm had settled itself on him, though his eyes were still hard.

'Alright, ask away. I know I am supposed to tell you things but I have no idea what to say or where to start,' Arthur finally said curtly

Truth to be told Ariadne was bursting with questions, having gotten over her initial shock. The whole thing seemed unreal to her. She gripped the bishop in her pocket and looked at Cobb. He nodded imperceptibly.

'Er…Um…Forgive me if this sounds stupid…but…er…what exactly was her bargain?' Ariadne asked haltingly.

Arthur held Ariadne's gaze for awhile before replying.

'She had been sent to find out if Inception had indeed happened in Fischer's mind. Her employers suspected something to that effect, but they wished to get confirmation. If she failed to get the confirmation, or she was not utterly convinced that it did not happen- essentially if she failed to get a very concrete answer, she would be given the choice of ending her own life, or going back to take the punishment'.

'So how did she know we did it without asking then?' asked Eames warily.

'I know what you are concerned about Eames, but our mission was not compromised in any way. Trust me on that. She knew the moment she saw me, because she knows me so well that I could never lie to her.'

'Interesting girl. I always thought she was intelligent, but twice the person you are. You have as much expression as your totem, my love,' said Eames.

Arthur's eyes flashed dangerously. He looked like he wanted to bash Eames to pulp.

'But…' Ariadne interjected, hoping to defuse the tension. 'What exactly are you to her? Who is she? Who are her employers? What was all that about you running? Why is she covered with bruises?' The questions tumbled out more and faster than she had intended to.

Ariadne saw the pained look in Arthur's eyes and regretted it immediately.

Arthur stared pointedly at his fingernails for some time with an impassive face, while Cobb shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

'Let me tell you part of my life story,' whispered Arthur.

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****I have already finished writing this story. Just a couple more chapters till the end. Actually I already finished it when I released the 5****th**** Chapter (Courage). I like to be able to see the end, then rewrite or edit my middle**

**By now you should probably have realized which ending I am committing myself to for the movie.**

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	7. Arthur's Story

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. The response thus far has been pretty encouraging I must say, thank you all for the story alerts and favourites.**

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'My name is not Arthur. At least it wasn't originally. But I have no idea what my real name is so I just stuck to using Arthur. Athena was in the same situation as me. She too was originally not called Athena, but she also didn't know her real name. We were both from the same orphanage. I have no idea where my parents are, or whether I have any siblings at all.'

He took a deep breath and continued.

'We were both 'adopted' when I was around 12, but in reality we were sold to this company that specializes in extractors for hire. Not unlike a hospital with different doctors for different patients.'

Arthur gave a bitter smile.

'We were put through rigorous training, day in, day out with other kids around our age, to find the strongest of the pack, the ones had the most potential to be successful extractors. Our identity pegged to a 5 digit number, no names were used during training all those years. Home was a compound which we rarely, if ever, got to leave. I won't go into the details of our training, because it was at best taxing, at worst…cruel. It was where I honed my survival instincts and my attention to detail. You had to. There was no other way to survive.'

'Our coming of age test came when I was around 18. They put Athena and me together, and we worked really well together, becoming the most successful pair among all the others. She was a brilliant Architect and Illusionist, and had the imagination and power to bring the whole thing together. She could coerce, she could build; she was like the official extractor among the two of us. They finally gave us a name, and a fake identity, complete with the whole set of documents. We became the "A-Team". A for Arthur and Athena, as well as indicating we were the best team. The people who named us had a penchant for old legends evidently. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, and Arthur, Knights of the Round Table.'

Arthur smiled humourlessly.

'We were heavily guarded no doubt. We were their treasures, their money-spinners. We easily brought in the most profits for them. Suicide was not an option for they gave us no opportunity for that. Escape, was virtually impossible given the tight security. All the security personnel had families within the compound, which made it much easier to keep the security guards in line and on alert.'

'Their modus operandi was that they would bring the Mark already unconscious into one of their "dreaming rooms" and all we had to do was to enter the dream with them. No extra preparation required of getting the Mark to sleep, and no need to deal with the aftermath. Just in and out and our job was finished. Most of the time, we formed teams among our own people, for they were wary of using outside people when doing job. They did use outsiders, but rarely.'

Eames nodded, 'Yeah I worked with her on a job once. Those people definitely aren't very nice.'

Arthur continued.

'It was a thankless life, with no motivation to go on. The stimuli they applied for our compliance was solely negative. It was all stick no carrot, soulless, and taxing. You saw the bruises on her. They have become more brutal since I left. But they would never leave open wounds, because these would affect us in our dream world. Only broken blood vessels under our skin. We were doing extractions numbering on average once every fortnight to once a month. I think all present here in this room know how exhausting just one job can be. Once every month was ridiculously frequent, much less once a fortnight. It was soul-sapping, and a pitiful existence. People actually died in there from exhaustion; those who were not strong enough to stand the constant onslaught of extraction and of having to prepare for new cases.'

'We were materially rich…they paid us well, but inside us, we had been defeated, resigned and empty. What use is money if you do not have the freedom to spend it? To not have the freedom to go where you want, when you want to? To not have the freedom to live? But yet through it all, Athena and I went through all of it together. All the grueling sessions, planning, arguing and creating_._ We always knew that we would be there for the other. She was perhaps the kid sister I never had, the love of my life, the girl of, quite literally, my dreams.'

Arthur's voice broke.

'Athena was the one that pioneered the concept of multiple dream levels, and it was on one such occasion, when we were using 2 dream levels that I got fed up. Something in me snapped. I don't know what, I don't know why. I just know I did. The moment I got into the dream, I told her I couldn't stand it anymore and before she could say anything, I shot myself and woke up in next level, and then in the real world.'

Arthur's hands were trembling slightly, though his face still remained expressionless.

Cobb put a comforting hand on Arthur's shoulder.

'There was still some time before the dream ended, because I killed myself right at the beginning and the dream itself was pretty complex, more than the usual few minutes. I pulled off the IV and I ran. They weren't expecting me to come out so fast, so they had only posted 2 guards at the door of our dreaming room. I defeated both easily enough, took my money and forged identity from my room, and left before the alarm was raised.'

Arthur took a shuddering deep breath and continued.

'I ran, and I ran, and I ran, hiding from them and trying to keep myself alive. Then I happened to meet Cobb around a month after I left. The rest they say is history.'

He paused to collect himself before continuing.

'I don't know what happened to Athena thereafter, but I can only speculate. If it was as she said, the 2 guards would have most likely executed, along with the head of security that day, their families thrown out, or possibly executed as well. And while the blame was not hers, I think it was unlikely they would let her off. We were responsible for each other and one person's mistake was as much the other's. In all probability from what I saw, they probably tortured her, and maimed her. Enough to allow her to walk properly in the real world, but not enough to run, which was sufficient for running in the dream world.'

He stopped and gulped down a few breaths, massaging his temples while trying to hide the emotions that were surfacing. Ariadne realized that he had tears in his eyes.

'The anguish…the anguish of never knowing…of being unable to know…and yet guessing what could have happened to her has and always will haunt me. She was my waking nightmare…my guilt…my regret. You have no idea of the horrors you can experience there…of how they play with you, torturing you mentally and physically…the excruciating pain. If experience is anything to go by, they would have become crueler to her, which they obviously did. How they could have…I really cannot…and do not want to imagine.'

The tears were falling freely down his face now, yet his face was still hard and bitter.

'She was right. I ran without any qualms for anyone. I spared no thought for her…and for the guards who were our friends and their innocent families. I was unbelievably…thoughtlessly selfish. And in doing so, I left her to face the music herself. A botched job and a potential danger to their secrets running around out there…Their anger would have been swift and powerful. Death, would have been an almost welcome release.'

'_We were supposed to be there for one another, always and forever_. If I ever had a person I loved, like you Dom, with Mal, it would have been Athena. But I didn't…I didn't love her enough to think about her…I thought about myself and myself only…**I ran.** And in doing so I created a lifelong regret and guilt. She isn't bursting on the seams of my sub-consciousness like Mal. Maybe I never loved her enough…Maybe I have been too used to solitude…Maybe…I don't know…I don't know if I ever loved her…and…and when I saw those bruises on her yesterday…I knew I could never forgive myself.'

'She had a courage I never possessed, and yesterday I saw it myself with such great clarity. She was unwilling to inflict on others the pain of Inception. She knew…or had a very good idea of what Inception entailed…and what her employers would use it to do. They were not people who one would say have a good moral centre…but she was...and she was unwilling to give them the power they needed to play God.'

'And so…' as a sob escaped from Arthur which halted him in mid-sentence as he tried to compose himself once more.

He swallowed.

'And so, she came to warn us…warn us that her employers would be looking out for this information…because she had already decided that she would not…she could not be the one to give them this…this…this power. She used her life, as payment…as an exchange to protect the others who are still doing it…and those nameless, faceless people that they would do it on…and as a means of escape from a life she never wanted. And because she no longer had the courage to go back to her life…'

And with that Arthur lost all control and buried his face in his hands sobbing.

* * *

**I know that Arthur is not supposed to break down sobbing or anything because he's hard-headed and logical, but bearing in mind the amount of time he kept it in, I would say it was high time.**

**Anyway, pertaining to Athena, I think I tried to present her in the most "god-like" manner I could, but bearing in mind this is all from Ariadne (and by extension the audience's) POV, I think it is worthwhile to note that probably the rest may not view her in that way. The reason why will be explained in the next and final chapter which will be rather long as it will be the chapter that (hopefully) ties up all, if not most of the loose ends.**

**Reaching the end soon! Please review:)**


	8. Answers for Ariadne

******A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome. **

* * *

Arthur got up, pushed his chair roughly and left the warehouse with a hard, tearstained face, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. He practically ran towards the door, as if the tears would make him a lesser man.

Eames and Ariadne sat in stunned silence, shocked at what they had heard.

One finds it easy to forget, especially on huge jobs like the Fischer job, that one's team mates have a past, have had some point in their lives loved, or hated someone with an overpowering passion.

Ariadne was trying to turn all the mass of information over in her mind, to make sense of a complex, yet real story. She gripped her bishop hard, determined not to lose her grip on reality, no matter how tragic it seemed.

How utterly paradoxical life was at times. Arthur, perfect with details, but a flawed lover. Calculated, yet impulsive. Impassive, yet emotional. How anyone cried with a face that hard, she could never fathom. It was a strange and unpleasant sensation to consider the analytical Arthur as one who could take off without a thought to the consequences of an action. With Arthur, everything was planned, and even improvisation had been to a certain extent, thought out. Was it not all the more paradoxical, that Arthur was most interested in paradoxes?

As she mulled over all these, a sudden realization dawned upon her. Both the girl and Arthur had said that her employers would be coming after them. Her team members all knew how to disappear and lay low. But she didn't.

Cobb must have seen the alarm on her face as realization dawned upon her and read her thoughts.

'Ariadne, they don't want the Architect. The Architect is merely a tool in which the Inception is laid out. They want to know how it is possible, and I am sure they know you are a complete amateur to this whole business. They don't want you, simply because you don't know enough.'

He held up his hand to cut her off as she tried to say something.

'Yes you were with us throughout the planning stage, and you were in all the levels with me. But the three of us, Arthur, Eames and I have always only given you as much detail as you needed to know. Put simply, you, like Yusuf never knew the full picture. You knew parts of the whole, but believe me; they don't want the trouble of finding you, coercing you only to find that you don't know the whole picture. And they know you don't have the full picture. Arthur had made sure of that.'

'What about you? And your family?' asked Ariadne.

'They cannot touch me. As Athena rightly pointed out, Arthur and I, and even Eames here have worked for enough powerful people that our disappearance will not go unnoticed. They will not touch us because we have reached the very top of our chosen professions, and they cannot do so without angering some of their important clients. As long as we stay in the big cities, where our powerful allies are based, they will not do anything to us.'

'Darling, no need to worry your pretty head about us. Use it to make more beautiful buildings, and think about how you want to build my house next time. It better have space for a bar I'm telling you,' as he wagged his index finger at her.

'We are all grown men and can take care of ourselves. 'Sides, the fact that they are sending her out to get information…their **best** extractor mind, shows just how desperate they are,' drawled Eames.

'But if she knew that your lives wouldn't be in danger…why did she come to warn us? What was there to warn?' asked Ariadne.

There was a short silence before Cobb answered.

'As Eames said, her employers were desperate to know the truth. And when she was given an opening, a chance to get out even if it meant certain death, she jumped at it. It was more a plea for us to hold our tongue, whatever the incentives that might be offered, than any actual direct danger. Therein, you see the Architect in her, the way she says things without actually saying them. From what I know which Arthur had told me, I think even a short taste of freedom was a huge incentive. They were desperate, so was she. And perhaps…just perhaps…she wanted to see Arthur too,' Cobb trailed off.

'Then why did Arthur have to pour out his life story to us?' Ariadne's brain was still not working properly. It must have been the shock, she told herself.

'Darrrrling,' purred Eames. 'I don't think it's very nice of Arthur to have kept us in the dark if we're going to have to look over our shoulders all the time to check if there's anyone following us. We have to take precautions against those bloody bastards too and know what we are facing, which would necessitate some form of story-telling. Though Arthur probably said more than he should have. Besides, if we were captured by them (heaven forbid), at least we know how to worm our way out of the situation better wouldn't you agree sweetheart?'

'Did you know her?' Ariadne directed the question to Eames.

He regarded the question for a moment.

'I worked with her professionally once, and I have heard certain rumours here and there. She was a beautiful girl. Beautiful and bloody briliiant. If she had been out here in the business, My God, I wouldn't even be sitting here. She would have outclassed me. With style too…what a poker player she would have been…' said Eames with a misty expression.

'Did you know her Cobb?' asked Ariadne.

'Professionally yes. Personally, only through Arthur. As Eames said, she was one of the best. Not to sound narcissistic or anything, I know that people say that I am the best in the business, but you see, technically she wasn't **in** the business. If she had been, I think she might just have become the best and held her own in the boys playground.'

'Is it me…or did she feel like…erm…you know…godly?' asked Ariadne in a small voice.

Cobb managed a small smile.

'What's in a name really?' he mused softly.

'She's an Illusionist Ariadne, as I think maybe Arthur or Eames might have mentioned.'

Immediately Ariadne thought of pulling rabbits out of a top hat.

'An Illusionist, is not unlike a Forger really. In a sense, a Forger is a physical manipulator, while an Illusionist is an emotional manipulator. A Forger is able to manipulate a Mark by looking like someone that the Mark knows, and the rest is just acting. An Illusionist on the other hand, is able to manipulate a Mark by making the Mark, feel a certain way towards them.'

'This gift is something that can actually be seen in real life, as you have just experienced, though I don't actually think she was doing it on purpose. Sometimes when your abilities spill over to the real world, such things do happen without you knowing. Forgers are a rare breed in the world, but Illusionists are even rarer, because emotions are really a lot harder to control mentally. Though persuasion is still needed, having an emotional illusion actually makes it a lot easier to convince someone of something. But it is possible to see past Illusionists if you have enough practice, just like seeing past Forgers.'

Now that Ariadne thought about it, she realized that Athena had seemed almost normal when she was lying on the couch. She had been bitter, philosophical, hurt and angry. _She had been human._ That was most certainly not like the godliness (if there was such a word) of her entrance and exit. The thought of her death weighed even more heavily on Ariadne's mind as her sense of kinship with the unknown girl deepened.

_This is not your dream and she is not a figment of your imagination_, thought Ariadne to herself as she gripped her bishop.

Silence fell over the trio.

For a long while, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air, punctuated only by the occasional shifting in a chair by one of them.

'What will they do with her body?' whispered Ariadne finally.

Cobb tensed up and Eames looked away.

'I think, that was what Arthur went to find out,' answered Cobb curtly staring at the floor.

There was silence again.

'Well darlings,' as Eames broke the silence.

'My plane is in another few hours. Please tell Arthur that I send my love. Though I still do hate him for being so organized, I now know that he is actually a lot more human. The thought of Arthur and a girl just tickles me. Much less that hell of a lovely girl,' a smile crinkled on Eames' face.

Then his face turned serious and looked at Cobb.

'Tell him I'm very very sorry for his loss. That girl of his was a wonder to work with, and she carried everything off with poise, grace and beauty. Really a dear, and her death is really a loss to the beauty of mankind,' said Eames in a sincere and regretful tone.

'I promise I'll keep my mouth shut. You know how to find me if you need me.'

Cobb nodded, and Eames turned and winked at Ariadne before striding off.

'Eames is treating this rather lightly isn't he?' asked Ariadne.

'No it's just his way of dealing with a rather grave situation really. Different people react differently. Under that light-hearted façade of Eames, he does actually understand the pain of losing someone so dear very well,' answered Cobb with a sad smile.

Both of them were silent, each contemplating their own thoughts.

'Cobb?'

'Yes Ariadne?'

'Is there any way to help those people in the place that Athena worked at?'

Cobb was silent.

'All these years, Arthur has always been trying to find a way to get Athena out. Ever since he came out himself, he has always cherished the illusion that one day he will be able to get Athena out, and ultimately shut that place down. And now this illusion is gone with her death, and his resolve is gone.'

'It's like snuffing out the only lighted candle in a room. There is instant darkness and it takes time for our eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. It was not the fact that he left her there that he actually obsessed about. It was that he never knew, and now will never know what happened to her, and what was happening to her. I think…and I can only speculate on this…that this is why Arthur always has a need to know_**everything**_, because of the one thing he never knew.'

He paused shaking his head.

'Their supply of extractors has been severely diminished, ever since adoption laws were tightened around Europe and the US. And it's very much easier to train people who are familiar with the landscapes of their targets, rather than outsiders. But there are still those who are in there and have no hope of coming out. He has never stopped trying you know. He never has. If there was a way, Arthur would have found it.'

'Will Arthur be alright?'

Cobb sighed.

'I honestly don't know about now, but I'm sure he will eventually come to terms with himself.'

He paused.

'It's never easy to forgive yourself Ariadne. Especially…not when you know that you have a direct bearing as to why someone is gone. I myself am an example of such. But for Arthur…it might take a little longer. Because he has spent so much time not knowing…because she could not forgive him…it might take him a lot longer to forgive himself.'

Cobb's eyes had turned a little misty, but he continued.

'It's like working so hard to keep someone alive, only to realize that person has died and there is nothing you could have done to prevent it, and nothing you could have done to even alleviate her suffering. Her suffering was his guilt, and not knowing just intensified it for him. Helplessness doesn't suit Arthur. In fact it's not a sensation many of us want to experience. Nevertheless, it will come. He will learn to forgive himself. Eventually.'

* * *

Ariadne gripped her totem in her pocket upon leaving the warehouse, trying to understand. What she had heard over the course of today and yesterday had shaken her up quite badly, but had humanized Arthur a lot more.

As the Parisian sun sank down, it flooded the sidewalk she was on with a beautiful pink and orange light. It spoke to her, reminding her that shadows cannot exist in pitch dark, but can only come about when there is a light source. She thought about Athena, about how she was beautiful yet terrible. About her life that was tragically cut short. Was it because she lacked the courage, or because she had more courage than she thought?

She thought about forgiveness, and what horrors that Arthur and Athena had to face, before they emerged. One in death and one in sorrow, but neither with forgiveness. Was forgiveness that hard to give? But then again she was just Ariadne, a university student, an amateur, an Architect. Who was she to judge if forgiveness was there to be given? Who was she to put a value on the emotional baggage that Arthur and Athena held?

Then she remembered the motley of bruises she had seen on Athena, and she remembered how there was this group of people out there who could never truly enjoy the thrill of pure creation, because they did it to stay alive. They were empty on the inside; hollowed out by a job they never chose, by a path they would not have taken. They were merely trying to string together their existence, and survive as they best could. The dream world offered possibilities, but only those who still can dream and create were privy to them. And to be able to dream, one needed freedom.

Athena had stopped dreaming a long time ago.

Ariadne was glad that she still could.

**~The End~**

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**This is the last chapter to this story and I thank you all readers for sharing this journey with me. Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**This has been one of the stories that I am most satisfied with (I have actually taken the rest of my stories down because I was unsatisfied with them), and I am really really glad to have written this. In this story, I feel that my artistic integrity (to use an oft used and abused term) has been fully satisfied, and wielding your own creative licence is sweet indeed.**

**I am not a plot mover...in that I do not write entire new stories with new twists, new turns, new antagonists. I like to examine one event and magnify it, put it under a microscope and (hopefully) write it well. If I liken myself to a painter, I would be the one doing still life, not painting one entire scene from a cafe in Paris.**

**Thank you once again for reading it, and reviews are most welcome. If you wish, below are some story notes that I have penned down because I just have the urge to let the world know my motivations, and for the sake of completeness so that my thoughts (and maybe yours) can have some form of closure.**

* * *

_**Some Story Notes:**_

**For Arthur, I don't actually think that he was in love with Athena, like Dom with Mal. Populist sentiments like to have happy endings, or to make Arthur into this person who is capable of selfless noble love, but I don't envision Arthur as someone like that (or Athena for that matter). The Arthur I envision, is one that probably has not figured out what romantic love is like, not because he is incapable of it, but because he just doesn't know and has never really seen an example of it blossom. As such, he is not selfless enough to love someone, and to care that much when he runs away. Self-survival is still the first and only instinct that comes to him. Arthur is human and his behaviour as seen in the contemporary sense, is a result of forces that have shaped him when he was young. You know...cause-effect. **

**Athena too is not perfect, and I actually envisioned her as a very bitter girl, who is halfway onto the road of forgiveness for Arthur, but running out of time, and out of an unwillingness to let go because she is constantly reminded of what she construes as Arthur's "betrayal". But within her, she has this inherent goodness and coupled with a sense of feeling trapped and desperate, she takes her life. She is not as totally altruistic as Arthur will have you believe, because she is in part (a large part in fact) motivated by her need to escape as well. And I think Arthur while knowing this, chooses to glorify her memory as a result of his guilt. I believe Cobb and Eames know this too (which is why Eames can take it as lightly as he did), but they never clue Ariadne into this. This is symbolic therefore in showing that Ariadne is still as yet untainted by the unsavoury side of the dreams-sharing business, while obviously the trio are no longer as "pure". At least one person will walk away, viewing her as a "Goddess", reflecting perhaps the optimist in me:)**

**I chose the name Athena because I wanted someone to look wiser than their years, to be godly and all things good that mere mortals like us aspire to be. But one must not forget that the Greek gods had their excesses too. They had scandals, they had affairs, they drank and did all sorts of things when drunk. In short, they were not perfect, and neither is Athena supposed to be. I have endavoured to stick to a not-so-linear narrative in hopes of portraying the movie (somewhat) in its full complexity and as a tribute to the master storyteller that is Christopher Nolan who is remarkable in this area. I chose to portray everything through Ariadne's eyes because Ariadne is THE person asking questions for the audience, and because she like us, is still as yet untainted. Ariadne is the bridge between the audience and the story, and what Ariadne's reactions are, hopefully they reflect yours as well:)**

**Thank you for reading my rather lengthy story notes, assuming that you did since you are reading this line now.**

**Keep dreaming:)**

**BnB (bruised not broken)**


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